13 October 2006

Attending: Luke, Mike, Carol, Jim, Robert, Philip

Upcoming events:

Pending move of Eastmark into AG-Program tree

For meeting details please continue click continue:

GW reply to problem. See Mike's comments below.
Attended a 0ne day Laserfiche training for administrators.
Ready to go on minimum release of GW versions and password expirations.

Mike

Tree merge is closer. The NDS is cleaned up, but there is an issue with security containers. Reading up on that now.

New client is on the Eastmark server. Maybe done with ACU. Then can go back and do the nmas patch. We need someone to test the install before forcing it out.

GW reply to. The specific problem Luke encountered was a non-unique ID, a distribution group called CSS and userID CSS. The recommendation is to rename the userID to fit the ID name standard.

We need to start looking at IDs, Distribution lists and alaises to avoid duplicates.

The other part of the reply to problem has to do with the old internet routing rules. We need to get folks to clean up personal address books. Then we can disable the #: and Internet: rules. We will delete these rules to prevent problems.

Mike is working on a procedure to bring address book into Excel, cleanup and using a utility convert the excel file back into a nab file for import to GW.

Jim
Eastmark server - installed new drives for expansion of drive space. Found a failed drive on the system. We need to use the megamgr utility to check into all the servers for failed drives.

Someone, like Mike in this case, needs to work on the the migragtion of agmail and aggw7 to the new replacement servers.

Center replacements for this year are (in order of priority) El Paso, Weslaco, San Angelo, Amarillo and Lubbock if funds allow. We might be able to up the RAM and drive space on Lubbock.

PhilipSan Angelo Symantec upgrade is underway. Waiting now on Jeffrey to install one machine with 10.1.4000 manually berfore pushing.

Also need to update corpus christi symantec. Will work with Pete to get that organized.

Brazos county - install GW messenger - can be done locally only since they are not in the ag program tree.

Robert
Weslaco Server - new motherboard tomorrow morning. Manny will change it out. It is not running now.

Lubbock - Failed twice in recent weeks. No clues at this time.

Carol

CWP server down with failed hard drives. Still working to get it back on line.

Bryan Center fiber failures, bad transciever in the old wooden building. We have contacted CIS to help us get this sorted out and replace the aging equipment.

The power failure on Tuesday evening caused some problems with DNS and finding servers.

Working on IP address organization and updated DHCP service. Would like to block IP addresses to get things worked out.

end

So, this Tech OPS entry will show you how to transform your email from a plain old list of email sorted by date, from, or subject to a list that is broken up by days of the week using Group Labels.

1. Start GroupWise

2. Right-click on the Date column header

3. Select, Sort Descending

   

4. From the toolbar, Select View

5. Select Display Settings > Edit/Create

6. From the Mailbox Properties dialog box on the Display tab, check Show Group Labels

   

7. Click OK

8. The Display Settings Save As dialog box will popup, click OK

   Note - This tip was written to be used with GroupWise 7.x. Also, you can sort different columns and either ascending or descending order.

   ]]> tag:tceblogs.tamu.edu,2006:/mt/wtexas//82.2401 2006-09-13T19:19:22Z 2007-10-11T20:30:30Z
   Like most entries found on this blog, I post IT things that I find and think might help you get more out of your computer and applications. I was attending and presenting at the District 10 Moving Face to Face...
   Jeffrey SoRelle Like most entries found on this blog, I post IT things that I find and think might help you get more out of your
   computer and applications. I was attending and presenting at the District 10 Moving Face to Face Programs
   to Online workshop this week, and Jim Segers showed off this cool feature in PowerPoint 2003.
   The feature is built-in and works very well for creating Power Point Photo Album slide shows on the fly.
   This method allows you to quickly create a slide show of photos which is a presentation that consists of a
   title slide and a collection of graphic images. And, you can have more than one photo per slide.
   You can also add captions to each photo and some special effects.

   I encourage you to try it out and pass this info to your colleagues and agents.
   If you would like more info about Photo Album in Power Point 2003 from Microsoft, click here.

   ]]> Creating the Photo Album slide show
   
   1. Start PowerPoint 2003 - Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

   2. From the Menu Bar, select Insert > Picture > New Photo Album

      

   3. From the Photo Album dialog box, select File/Disk
      (Note - you can download your photos directly off the digital camera by selecting Scanner/Camera...)

      

   4. Navigate to the pictures desired, select the pictures and click Insert

      

   5. At this point, you can select several options to manipulate the photos
      1. Reorder the pictures

      2. Rotate the pictures

      3. Change the brightness or contrast of each photo

      4. Change all pictures to black and white

         

   6. Under Album Layout, Select 1 Picture - Depending on the
      album layout selected, you will have Frame Shape, Caption,
      and Design Template options.

      

      Note - In normal view, add the text you want in each text box under each picture
      If you don't add your own text for each caption, Microsoft PowerPoint will automatically use
      the file name of each picture as the caption.

   7. Click Create

   8. Make sure to Save your File!!!
      
   ]]> tag:tceblogs.tamu.edu,2006:/mt/wtexas//82.2458 2006-09-05T14:13:22Z 2007-10-11T20:36:38Z
   Network Core Team Meeting Notes 1 September 2006 Attending: Bob Cohen, Mike, Carol, Jim, Robert, Philip Upcoming events: Move of Eastmark into AG-Program tree For meeting details please continue click continue:...
   Jim Segers Network Core Team Meeting Notes

   1 September 2006

   Attending: Bob Cohen, Mike, Carol, Jim, Robert, Philip

   Upcoming events:

   Move of Eastmark into AG-Program tree

   For meeting details please continue click continue:

   ]]> Bob

   FYI on PDAConnect that comes with the GW 7.0.1 distribution. You have to update the Microsoft ActiveSync component to version 3.8. The date ranges for sync are now honored correctly. It does not tell you what is going to be deleted during sync, only how many will be deleted.

   Mike

   We need to add the SNMP statements to the Autoexec.ncf file to set the SNMP community strings properly. Details can be found in TID 10089556. This is a securtiy issue.

   To correct the LDAP anonymous binds security warning we need to apply a schema extension for LDAP and in C1 set "Disable anonymous LDAP Binds"

   Hot patches from 7-27 were applied to the GWIA. The GWIA does not want to shutdown properly and the GW Monitor program will not connect properly. After the patches it was rebooted.

   Carol

   A call came in from Amarillo to reset user rights on the Linux web server there. After some searching we found the root password and were able to meet their request. There are several Linux based servers there that could be consolidated. Most are on older hardware.

   One of the modems on the PPP server failed resulting in several calls about the service. The modem was replaced and the replacement did not work properly either. A second modem was used to resolve the problem.

   Also had a call from Harris county concerning remote access to GroupWise. The person did not know about WebAccess and was trying to get a dial account, thinking that is what was needed.

   Jim

   Send a request to NIM to remove Bob Cohen and Paul Sittler from our management group and reassign any records belonging to them. Bob's records were reassigned to me and Paul's were reassigned to Carol.

   I set in on a hosted messaging demo from OutBlaze. They provide custom email, calendar, addressbook services. I will send the team a link to a test site to review.

   We have a pending test on merging Eastmark into the Ag Program tree. There is some preperation work needed. Mike will be working on this next week. Date for merge is not yet set.

   Working with Rory Harper we discovered one group files on TxAgPrg needs to be moved to a different volume. This will help with the low space problem on TxAgPrg. Rory will work with them to setup a time for the move.

   Phillip

   Big question on Symantec licensing. It is impossible to push out updates at most locations, not know the status of their licensing. We need to resolve this somehow.

   There was an instance this week of SPAM getting in without being caught. It appears the message came in directly to GW system bypassing the firewall appliance. This could happen if something is using the secondary MX record to send mail. I have contacted CIS to help track this down.

   Robert

   This week we had instances of the GWPOA nlm not shutting down correctly for backup. There does not seem to be a pattern. When this occurs GW is not working properly and it requires a complete server reboot to get things going again.

   end

   ]]> tag:tceblogs.tamu.edu,2006:/mt/wtexas//82.2236 2006-09-01T17:34:18Z 2007-10-11T18:58:01Z
   The late Paul Sittler wrote an article for TnT back June of 2004 entitled, "Five Simple Things that Computer Users Should do to Prevent Problems." The article was and is a big hit with users because it gives clear guidelines...
   Jeffrey SoRelle The late Paul Sittler wrote an article for TnT back June of 2004 entitled, "Five Simple Things that Computer Users Should do to Prevent Problems." The article was and is a big hit with users because it gives clear guidelines on how to prevent computer problems. I encourage you to go back and read, "Five Simple Things that Computer Users Should do to Prevent Problems" by clicking here.

   Following in Paul's footsteps, I thought it might be helpful to give you some do it yourself solutions for those times when your machine just seems to be getting cranky - like maybe it has a virus. These steps will show how to perform basic computer triage using Symantec AntiVirus, Spybot 1.4, Windows Defender, and ATF-Cleaner on a troubled machine.

   ]]> Step 1: Update and/or installing your computer triage software. Three of the four applications will need updates. These products are Symantec AntiVirus, Spybot, and Micorsoft's Windows Defender.
   • Symantec AntiVirus: All Texas Cooperative Extension and most TAES computers should have some version of Symantec AntiVirus installed and running. How do you know? Look for the little gold shield in the notification area (bottom right corner)
     1. Double click on the Gold Shield
     2. Click LiveUpdate
     3. Follow on-screen instructions
     4. Close Application
   • Spybot 1.4: On the Spring 2006 County Support CD, you will find Spybot 1.4 under Security or you can get it by clicking here.
     1. Click on Start > All Programs > Spybot - Search and Destroy >
     2. Spybot Search and Destroy
     3. From the Left Panel > Click Update
     4. From the Top Panel > Click Search for Updates
     5. Check any and all Updates listed
     6. From the Top Panel > Pull down server list > Select Safer Networking #2 (Europe)
     7. Click Download Updates
     8. Close Application
   • Windows Defender: Windows Defender is a free product from Microsoft that can be installed on Windows XP/2000 machines. If you need to install and set it up, click here.

     
     

   • ATF-Cleaner: I introduced you to the ATF-Cleaner back in May. If you need to install it, click here. Everyone that has tried it has been amazed by how many bytes are freed up.

     
     

   Step 2: Once you have updated the above applications, it is now time to run some scans. I prefer to run these scans in Windows Safe Mode because it starts your computer in a simple way and makes problems easier to find and to fix.
   
   • Safe Mode:
     
     1. Close all open programs.
        
     2. Click Start
        
     3. Run and type MSCONFIG in the box
        
     4. Click OK
        
     5. The System Configuration Utility appears, On the BOOT.INI tab, Check the "/SAFEBOOT" and MINIMAL option
        
     6. Click OK
        
     7. Restart your computer when prompted.
     
     

   Step 3: Running Disk Cleaner and the Scans
   

   • The first thing you want to do is run the ATF-Cleaner:
     
     1. Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program
        
     2. If Windows prompts you with a security warning, Click Run
        
     3. Under the Main dialog box choose > Select All
        
     4. Click the Empty Selected button.
        
     5. If you use Firefox browser, click Firefox on the toolbar
        
     6. Select All
        
     7. Click the Empty Selected button.
        
     8. An ATF Cleaner dialog will pop to confirm you want to delete saved Firefox passwords.
        
     9. Close Application
        
     
     
   • Next run Spybot 1.4 Scan
     
     1. Click on Start > All Programs > Spybot - Search and Destroy >
     2. Spybot Search and Destroy
        
     3. In the Right Panel > click Check for Problems
        
     4. After the scan and if problems are listed, click the Fix Problems icon
        
     5. Follow the on-screen instructions
        
     6. Close Application
        
     
     
   • Third, run Windows Defender Full Scan
     
     1. Click on Start > All Programs > Windows Defender
        
     2. From the Scan Pull Down > Select Full Scan
        
     3. After scan, follow on-screen instructions to fix any problems
        
     4. Close Application
     
     
   • Last, run a Symantec AntiVirus Scan
     
     1. Click on Start > Symantec Client Security > Symantec AntiVirus (note - this maybe worded slight differently depending on the version you are using)
        
     2. In the Left Panel > Click Scan then Full Scan
        
     3. Click the Scan button
        
     4. After scan, follow on-screens instructions to fix problems
        
     5. Close Application

• Normal Mode:
  
  1. Close all open programs.
     
  2. Click Start, Run and type MSCONFIG in the box and click OK
     
  3. The System Configuration Utility appears. On the General tab, Check the "Use Original BOOT.INI", and then click OK
     
  4. Restart your computer when prompted.
     
  
  
  

25 August 2006

Attending: Carol, Jim, Robert, Luk

Upcoming events:

Move of Eastmark into AG-Program tree

For meeting details please continue click continue:

Password expires for support staff occurred this week at JK Williams. It went well, but there were some questions about iFolder and Messenger Passwords. Yes, they use the same password so they will change. If a computer is set to remember those passwords then it will require some manual intervention to get them logging in correctly.

Carol

NW Client issue at Harris county. A new PC could not find the server or tree, even by IP number. Some cleaning up of the network services helped, but they may need the latest version of the Netware client. Jim uploaded the client to the Netware servers Public area for Rico on Thursday.

Riverside 4431 building diagram is done. Once Mike and Greg check it over for acurracy we will forward to CIS.

DMS documentation is just about done.

Next project is to finish changing password on the Linux boxes scattered around the state.

Jim
Endof the year purchases are underway.We have 5 rack mount 1U Gateway's on order, 3 for our server room replacements and 2 for the new CMS setup, we also have 1 rack mount 2U server on order, also for the CMS system.

I am waiting on a quote for an Hitachi Storage box to see what the pricing is on that before ordering the storage.

Robert

Renewable resources group - Some WFSC folks are in the Extend context on AGGW. It is not clear how these got here.

Tarrant County had computers that would not do Windows updates. The Tarrant County IT department is working on it.

Need a UPS and modem usage report for San Angelo. Need a UPS at Ft. Stockton.

end

end

So the question is, "how do I add the Extension or Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Logo to my email signature?" This OPS entry will walk you through the steps to add the official Extension or TAES logo to your GroupWise email signature. (Note - You must be using GroupWise 7.x to add a graphic image to your email signature.)

Well if you are a user of Internet Explorer, there is hope. IE 7, which is due out some time in the near future, is going to have a Print Preview that will let you print web pages correctly without chopping off the right hand content. However, great news, there is no reason to wait on Microsoft because there is a solution already out there in the World!

Say hello to Firefox 1.5! With just a simple click on Print Preview, you can print webpages with all the content on the right hand side.

To download FireFox 1.5, please visit www.mozilla.com/firefox

1. Start FireFox

2. Go to desired webpage

3. From the Toolbar, File > Print Preview

4. From the Print Preview tool bar, select Shrink to Fit

5. Click Print

6. Select print options if desired

7. Click OK

Note - Now, because of extreme variability with authoring webpages, this method of printing webpages is not 100%. If you run into one of these pages that will not print correctly, I recommend that you try selecting Landscape mode from the Print Preview toolbar. Generally this will fix the problem.

Anyway, I heard back from many of you, and needless to say PhotoStory was a hit! If you have not used it yet, I encourage you to try it. For this OPS entry, I am going to show you how to prepare a PhotoStory to be sent by email. You can add a little spice to your email by sending those photos of 4Hers, pictures of the grandkids, or those great photos of the hunt to someone in the photostory format. Plus, you don't have to worry about resizing each photo.

This will also make the person on the receiving end of the email very happy because PhotoStory does an excellent job compressing the files down a optimal size for email.

This OPS entry will demonstrate how to catagorize your events and assign each event a different color using the GroupWise Calendar.

2. Start GroupWise (Note - if you have not installed GroupWise 7.x, you need too!)

3. In the Folder List panel, click Calendar

4. Once the Calendar is activated, click the Month View

5. Select a day

6. Right-click on that day > Select New > Post Appointment (Note - You can select existing appointments if desired)

7. Fill in the desired information about the appointment

8. Click the Options tab (it may say Send Options)

9. Use the categories pull down list > Assign a category to your event

10. If you want to edit or color the category list, select Edit Categories

11. To make a new category just type in a name at the bottom

12. Click Ok

13. Click Post

27 July 2006

Attending: Carol, Mike, Jim, Robert, Philip

Upcoming events:

Tarrant County Office move (Jim and Aimee)

For meeting details please continue click continue:

SSL setup on most GW,POA, MTA and webaccess. Still working through this. Instructions handed out during session. (not posted here for security reasons).

GroupWise Client upgrades. Newest are 7.0.1 and 6.5.7 These are posted on the GW support site.

Issues have been upgrading over older copies of GW. We do need to force updates and versions to help prevent this problem. A second issue is with Windows Messaging. In some cases it also has to be uninstalled and reinstalled to get the new client to install.

Carol
Got access to p-sittler NEO records and reset forwarding. So we can tell where incoming mail is going more easily.

Mailman lists - some removed. List is avaialble.

DMS SSL setup for Web Client. SSL certificate issued by CIS. The thick client security is still not settled out. The new Web Client coming up has more features and may help us not use the thick client.

One of the CWP servers failed a power supply yesterday. We found one in surplus and got it running again. They will be moving these to Corpus in near future on new boxes.

Jim

Tarrant county office is starting move today. Aimee and I will go up on Monday to move router and NetWare server and help with workstation reconnects.

I have not resolved the C067 error on Animal Science. I will kick this one up to MicroAge/Novell for a cure.

We have a new Gateway Rep. Travis Beard.

We have a demo with xiotech setup for August 3.

Robert

Ft. Stockton backup is up and running. Need to setup backup exec.
Ft. Stockton needs a new UPS.

The FarWest server is off-line now. All the web sites have been moved to the NetWare server.

Uvalde tape drive exchange worked well. Tape Archives are now working.
Wireless connection is still not setup completely, need to mount antennas and reconfigure.

iManager updated at Lubbock.

Philip
In the process of updating Symantec on all servers. The off campus servers, when updated stop communicating to on campus servers. We will try using an off campus server for controlling the off-campus servers. This seems to be an inbound firewall/security issue.

Barracuda had an issue after a firmware update. The number of bad recipent errors went up. There was a timeout error on the ID verification. The Barracuda folks logged in and increased the timeout. Others have reported the same problem to Barracuda, so there may be addtional fixes coming.

end

21 July 2006

Attending: Luke, Mike, Jim, Robert, Carol, Phillip

Upcoming events:

Install of Ft. Stockton Backup server (Robert)
Install of replacement tape drive at Uvalde (Robert)
Tarrant County Office move (Jim and Aimee)

For meeting details please continue click continue:

Mike
Recreate user database bring up messages older than should exist. This has been kicked up to Novell to find an explaination. It seems to be global problem where only sent items are being expired.

Recreate users blanks out all mail first, then it goes through all databases and reads and resets pointers to messages. In most cases you will get multiple entries for many email messages, so it needs to used carefully.

Groupwise upgrade sheet went out for AGIT. Testing seems pretty successful.

Post Office Agent can give a listing of clients logged in and versions in use via web site login.

Next week we will set AGIT to 6.5.4 minimum and 6 grace logins. This method will force updates to GW7. Need to test this with Caching Mode.

SSL on GW. Once you setup the certificates, it can be enabled without a restart on the POA or MTA. The goal is to get all GW communications running will SSL.

GroupWise mobile server is setup. Testing with switching TREO over to GW Moble. Seems to be easy to setup.

Hort Forestry BU server is ready.

Jim
Server replacements for enterprise level. The team decided on Agmail, Agmail3, AGIT and AGGW7 as the ones that need replacement.

C067 invalid store number error is preventing Animal Science GW users from switching from online to caching. It is not clear how to repair this error. More research is needed.

The team decided on a new Master Password. The drop dead for changes is August 15

Robert

Fort Stockton next week then Uvalde on the way back. Install backup server at Ft. Stockton. At Uvalde replace tape drive, setup wireless to student dorms and install 2 printer/copiers.

Encountered a C067 error on move from TxAgPrg to Soil-Crop sciences. Account moved but no messages.

CarolGW Mobile Server needed port opened 3102. A user can set themselves up with no admin intervention.
Needed a setting on phone software for times to sync going.

DMS update
Security is the current issue. We are currently obtaing an SSL certificate for the web based client.
The thick client needs some way to be secured. The client itself does not have built in transmission security. The solutions offered for VPN, tunnelling and encription, need more research. The best solution would be for the thick client itself to do the security.

CWP machines will be moving in the near future to the Corpus Christi Center.

Phillip
Windows Firewall will block Symantec System Center communications. WE are not sure what needs to be opened to fix this problem. In the short term disabling the firewall is a workaround.

Pushed Symantec client updates are working at Eastmark.

GWMailTo function is breaking on some 7 installs. Fix seemes to be uninstall and restall.

There is a new release of Syamantec AntiVirus - 10.1.4 which we have download and will start using.

end